


Open mouth, insert... pretzel?

by Kiti_the_Warrior_Poet



Category: Leverage
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-26
Updated: 2019-11-26
Packaged: 2021-02-26 05:00:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,368
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21568018
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kiti_the_Warrior_Poet/pseuds/Kiti_the_Warrior_Poet
Summary: Eliot is never caught of guard, and he always has at least three back-up plans, but if anyone is capable of throwing him off balance, it makes sense that Parker would be the one to do it.
Relationships: Alec Hardison/Parker, Alec Hardison/Parker/Eliot Spencer
Comments: 7
Kudos: 47





	Open mouth, insert... pretzel?

**Author's Note:**

  * For [elysiumwaits](https://archiveofourown.org/users/elysiumwaits/gifts).



> So, I've never written for Leverage before but I love the OT3 so I hope I did them justice.

“They’re here right now, aren’t they,” Parker’s voice startles Eliot in a way that shouldn’t be possible, he really is off his game tonight. The thing is, she’s right, but there is no way Eliot’s going to give her that information without a fight. “I don’t know what you’re talkin’ ‘bout,” Eliot grunts out. The noises of the bar seem to fade into the background as Eliot finally focuses on Parker just in time to see her eyes narrow and her nose scrunch up in that way that he absolutely doesn’t find adorable at all. “You’re doing that thing again,” she accuses. “What thing Parker?” “That thing you do when you get nervous, where you go all hyper focused but start missing things you never would.” “I don’t-” Parker continues over Eliot’s half-hearted attempt at denial, “Don’t lie to me. I startled you just now. I never startle you, you always see me coming a mile away.”

The sounds of the bar start to seep back in as Eliot allows his silence to betray him. Eventually Parker can resist no longer and finds herself reaching out and poking her friend’s shoulder, “Eeeeliotttt…” How the hell is Eliot supposed to explain to Parker that the girl in the corner who looks way too much like Parker to be a coincidence is the one that he took to dinner last night only to send her home alone in a cab. Because he couldn’t stop thinking about how when the waiter had been flirting with her the person he really wanted to be on the date with would have stabbed him with a fork and gotten them banned from the restaurant for life.

Parker can tell that Eliot “I stare death in the face ten times before breakfast everyday” Spencer is panicking but she doesn’t know how to fix it. Parker is bad at using her words, and while being around Eliot usually helps with that, she seems to have crossed some invisible line with a tripwire rigged to break the man sitting across the table from her and words no longer live in her brain. Luckily, the spiral of mutual panic that seems to have taken over their little corner of the room is interrupted by their waitress appearing with a fresh bottle of beer for each of them, “Courtesy of the gentleman at the bar.” Two sets of eyes snap to the bar to find a handsome young man wearing an unfairly attractive smirk raising his own beer bottle out to them in a salute.

“That’s my date from last night.” Eliot doesn’t even realize that he spoke until he sees Parker suddenly standing next to the handsome stranger looking back over her shoulder at him still sitting at their table. Shit, Eliot is so screwed and not in the fun way either. Parker may actually kill him. He’ll probably let her. When a strong hand squeezes his shoulder, it takes every ounce of restraint that Eliot possesses not to pin the surprisingly muscled stranger to the table and cause a scene that Parker would never let him live down. “Eliot, dude, you didn’t tell me that you know my girl Parker.” “Don’t call me dude. Wait. You know Parker?” Parker must know what’s going on. This man that Eliot has never met or even seen before in his life knows his name, and Eliot would know if he’d seen the stranger before because he has very distinctive eyes and shoulders and, yep, also a very distinctive ass.

“Hardison is the one I was telling you about.” Parker’s eyes are bright and a smile is growing on her face. “You know, the one that I went on that date with the other day after we met at that foster care mentorship program training. I still don’t get why they kicked me out of the program, I have plenty of skills to teach those kids.” Well, that smile didn’t last long now replaced with one of Eliot’s favorite Parker frowns, the one where she pouts with her lower lip pushed out just that little bit. Wait, did Parker just say that she went on a date with this Hardison guy last week, and she thinks that he and Eliot were on a date last night and apparently Hardison is going to keep letting her think that? A chuckle that sends shivers down Eliot’s spine brings him out of yet another panic spiral but the words that follow threaten to start him spinning again. “Babe,” Hardison gently places a hand over Parker’s where she’s started to destroy the label on her beer bottle, “I don’t think that pick-pocketing and lock-picking are exactly the kind of skills they’re wanting those kids to learn from the program.”

“Parker!” Eliot bangs his fist on the table in front of him. “I know that you don’t always  _ get _ social stuff, but why aren’t you pissed that I just told you that I went on a date with your boyfriend last night? And  _ you _ ,” Eliot’s finger is suddenly very close to Hardion’s face, “why didn’t you tell her I was lying? Why were you going along with it?” Eliot deflates as his words hang in the air.

Alec can see the concern on Parker’s face and gives her a slight shake of his head before turning to face Eliot. “She ain’t mad, and I went along with it, because you’ve come up in conversation a lot in the time that I’ve known Parker, and well I’ve kinda been helping her to come around to the realization that she has, well, feelings for you.”

Eliot pushes himself up from the table only to stop at the sound of a pair of handcuffs clicking shut. When he looks down, one cuff is around his own wrist and the other is around Parker’s. Resigned, Eliot sits back down to listen, wishing in retrospect that he’d ordered something harder than beer tonight.

“Yeah, well, lots of people like pretzels  _ and _ peanuts,” Parker interjects, a slight edge of panic creeping into her voice, using the handcuffs to pull herself closer to Eliot, eyes begging him to just understand her they way that he always manages to, even when no one else does.

“You’re not,” Eliot shakes his head turning to Hardison, “She ain’t talkin’ ‘bout food is she?”

“No,” Alec agrees, “she’s not talking about food. I’m pretzels and you’re peanuts. What Parker is trying to say, is that we’ve talked about it, and while I’ve not actually met you before tonight, I,  _ we _ , think that the three of us could make it work. I’ve heard so much about you from Parker that I feel like I’ve known you forever. I know you love Parker, don’t even try to deny it, and she loves you too. I love Parker, and she loves me. I suggest a triad. Triads can work in more than one way, you and I can both be with Parker but not be with each other, or,” pausing to lick his lips, Hardison’s eyes dart to Parker’s before locking once again with Eliot’s. “ _ Or _ , the two of us can give it a go. Take some time, get to know each other, see if  _ we _ ,” Hardison points to his own heart and then to Eliot’s, “work as well as I think we can and ultimately be together the three of us.”

Eliot is so focused on Hardison’s words and how quickly they’ve ripped the ground out from under his feet that he doesn’t even notice that Parker has taken the cuffs off his wrist until he hears the bell above the door and his eyes instinctively check only to find Parker disappearing through the threshold. Although the hand squeezing his shoulder has only done so once before it feels like it has always been there, like it should always be there. Perhaps more distracted by this additional new revelation, Eliot barely registers Hardison’s parting words, “No pressure man, take your time. Think about what I said, and when you’re ready just let us know.” Eliot thinks Parker might just be right, lots of people like pretzels  _ and _ peanuts, and Eliot always was a fan of a good bar mix.


End file.
